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Dirty Little Secrets

a gripping thriller of lies, privilege, secrets and betrayal

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Dirty Little Secrets

By: Jo Spain
Narrated by: Michele Moran
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About this listen

 THE INCREDIBLY GRIPPING THRILLER FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE PERFECT LIE

*********

In the exclusive gated community of Withered Vale, people's lives appear as perfect as their beautifully manicured lawns. Money, success, privilege - the residents have it all. Life is good.

There's just one problem.

Olive Collins' dead body has been rotting inside number four for the last three months. Her neighbours say they're shocked at the discovery but nobody thought to check on her when she vanished from sight.

The police start to ask questions and the seemingly flawless façade begins to crack. Because, when it comes to Olive's neighbours, it seems each of them has something to hide, something to lose and everything to gain from her death.

*********

PRAISE FOR JO SPAIN

'Loved, loved, loved' Caz Frear

'Dark, funny, well-plotted, sinister' Will Dean

'You certainly look at your neighbours with fresh eyes after reading this' Yours

(P) 2020 Quercus Editions Limited©2019 Joanne Spain Crime Thrillers Domestic Thrillers Genre Fiction International Mystery & Crime Medical Mystery Psychological Thriller & Suspense Suspense Exciting Feel-Good

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Critic reviews

An engrossing and compelling story that will have you reading well into the night as you keep telling yourself, "just one more chapter"
A fabulously entertaining whodunit, with a sly wit and a wonderful detective duo
Fans of Desperate Housewives will love this . . . a real page-turner
Wonderfully drawn characters and more secrets and motives than you can shake a stick at. Loved, loved, loved
Irish crime fiction's current hot-ticket... busy, imaginative, cleverly structured and zippily-paced
Dark, funny, well-plotted, sinister. Superb
[An] Agatha Christie-esque and emotion-charged locked-estate mystery
[A] sophisticated new crime novel
It's a winning combination of locked room (or in this case locked estate) mystery and incisive social commentary
This is a winner in my book
Spain conjures up a brilliant setting for this murder mystery, with a fantastically imagined cast of characters
She's absolutely hit her stride
A book to sink into with a cast of characters you'll genuinely care about... completely memorable... a gorgeous read
Dirty Little Secrets has got a real touch of Murder on the Orient Express about it - a closed room mystery filled with nasty people and abundant motives. A real page-turner
Sensational. . . taut and claustrophobic, wickedly plotted and laced with the kind of dark humour that lifts Jo Spain to the top of my reading pile every single time
Loved it! Fabulous characters, superbly written, twists, turns & ends with a punch
An intriguing Rubik's Cube of a book that kept me turning the pages to get to the truth. So well plotted and beautifully written. I absolutely loved it
Has you addicted from the very first page. I found it impossible to put down
Enthralling - Spain dissects her characters' secrets with razor-sharp precision
Try if you liked Our House by Louise Candlish . . . a very intelligent whodunnit
Deliberately evocative of classic Golden Age mysteries... the novel is deliciously cynical in tone
You certainly look at your neighbours with fresh eyes after reading this
All stars
Most relevant
Very clever twist. Very well narrated. couldn't stop listening ending very unexpected well done to all.

loved it

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Great read, I found it captivating. The comic relief was fantastic. Very well written

Brilliant

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This was less a detective story but more of a psychological tale. I was rather confused at first with the jumping around of various characters and their families but soon understood that I should concentrate! What an insightful piece. Every house had their different dramas - all exposed by a dreadful event. Really good book.

I've found a new author!

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If you're expecting a detective novel I think you'll be disappointed. There is a death under suspicious circumstances but little of the narrative involves detection. It's much more a catalogue of revelations about the fractured relationships of the victim's neighbours within their families and with the victim. The basic premise of the book is interesting: the story is partly told in the words of the dead woman describing her interactions with her neighbours. It took me quite a time to get into the novel as there are a large number of characters introduced who took time to stick in my mind so I could keep track of their lives. Identification is not helped by the fact that the narrator doesn't give them noticeably different voices. The narrative is structured to go round and round the different families and signalling the switch by the number of their house, e.g., number 2, 4, 7 etc. It's all very slow and lacking in narrative drive and frankly quite boring a lot of the time. I only kept listening as I used as company as I did other things. The final revelation is hastily done with little build up and a bit of a damp squib.
The book is very different from other Jo Spain books I've listened to and not nearly as gripping.

Pretty boring most of the time

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I loved this book. Full of individual lives all with stories to tell. Taking place on a small estate you learn about their problems and their relationships. I was worried at first not being able to keep up with all the characters that would obviously be involved but the author cleverly lets you know the house number every time she mentions a snapshot of what’s going on in their life. The main character Olive at No 4 tries hard to be friends with everyone but to no avail. The narration of this book is superb so much so, that I am going to look for more books narrated by Michele Moran who has a lovely clear soft Irish accent and who does not put on a different voice for each character which I personally prefer. A very enjoyable listen. I am going to look out for more Jo Spain books as I liked the way it was written.

Don’t mess with your neighbours

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